May 1st marks the time of year when the smell of summer is in the air; when fruits and flowers and vegetation begin to explode with the vibrant colors of life. Yesterday morning I looked out my garden window and was excited to see the first Nasturtium blossoms of the year. These blossoms not only mark the beginning
of summer, but more so the fertile fortitude of nature.
My partner and I have been working on our wild garden for the last five years, putting in a lot of time, energy and resources into cultivating the earth. Last winter our garden was trampled by workers painting our apartment building, suffocating half of it with plastic sheets for almost a month. Later in the spring, I came home one afternoon and found another worker pulling up the wild grasses as well as the native plants we bought, telling me the landlord told him to remove the “weeds” because they were a “fire hazard.” We were heart-broken even though he left the rosemary bush and the sunflowers, which were already three feet tall. However, the next day we noticed many birds down in the dirt pecking at the hundreds of grass seeds which had shaken free while their stalks were uprooted; and we knew what that meant.
The rains came and the grass seeds germinated. Most of the native plants came back from their roots. A year later our garden is practically back to its original state, and with hardly any help from us — we are feeling Victorious!
Take some time this month to consider what is now blossoming in your life. What parts of you may have been uprooted and composted over the year, only to return victoriously?
– Nick Venegoni, MA